Can only the eyes of enlightenment see emptiness?

Question: A question from Maneesha: OUR BELOVED MASTER, CAN ONLY THE EYES OF ENLIGHTENMENT SEE EMPTINESS? Maneesha, these are only different ways of saying the same thing -- emptiness, enlightenment, the eyes of enlightenment, the wisdom of enlightenment, the illumination of enlightenment. These are only different ways of talking about the ultimate realization within. It is so vast that it can be described in a thousand and one ways. But this is certainly true: that without the eyes of enlightenment you cannot see emptiness. In fact they both happen together, simultaneously, the emptiness and enlightenment. They are not two things. And another question from Professor Schneider-Wessling. He has asked an immensely important question. His son is a sannyasin already, and the professor is sitting just in front of me. He is also a member of our World Academy for Creative Science, Arts and Consciousness.

Here, o sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness; whatever is form, that is emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form; the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness. Here, o sariputra, all dharmas are marked with emptiness;

Buddha says nothing is ever defiled and nothing is ever immaculate. Purity, impurity, are mind attitudes. Can you tell about a tree whether it is moral or immoral? Can you say about an animal that he's a sinner or a saint? Try to see this ultimate vision: there is no sinner, no saint, nothing moral, nothing immoral. In this acceptance, where is the possibility of worrying? There is nothing to improve either! And there is no goal, because there is no value. This journey is a journey without any goal. It is a pure journey; it is a play, a leela. And there is nobody behind it, doing it. All is happening, and there is nobody doing it. If the doer is there then the problem arises -- then pray to the doer, then persuade the doer, then become friends with the doer. Then you will be benefitted, and those…

The ordinary eyes can only see the superficial. There is a hidden eye behind these two eyes -- the mystics have always talked about it as the third eye. It is not functioning because we have never paid any attention to it. Once we start pouring energy into it, it starts functioning again. And it is through that third eye that one can see bliss, love, God -- all that has depth. Otherwise we live in the shallow. The ordinary eyes can only see the waves on the ocean but can never see the depth of the ocean. All the techniques of meditation are nothing but to trigger the third eye. Once it starts functioning you enter into a totally different world. In a sense everything remains the same; in another sense everything is different. Because you see differently, your seeing brings a different quality to whatsoever you see.

And that is where people become awakened: awakened to the truth of existence, awakened to the truth of their own being. That's where one becomes a Buddha. The Buddha simply means the one who is no more asleep, who is no more dreaming, who is fully awake. [A sannyasin, leaving, says: I'm still afraid of the emptiness, Osho. I fill it with food and drinks.] Simply accept it. It is nothing wrong -- it is the door to the ultimate. But the door has to be empty otherwise how will you enter? You cannot enter through a wall From far away the door looks empty and dark, and you are unnecessarily frightened. Come closer to it, accept it Emptiness is not emptiness but the beginning of fullness, but you have to take a plunge into it, and you can take the plunge only when you accept.

Beloved Osho, when I close my eyes, I feel such an enormous presence, such a vast isness, such a beatitude. But it is a fullness, not an emptiness. Could you please say something about the difference between this fullness, and the emptiness or nothingness which you are speaking of?

These ideas appeal to the ego. The ego would like to have all the stars, if not inside the chest then at least hanging on the coat outside the chest. "Enormous light"... the ego is very willing. To cut the very roots, Buddha says the experience is as if you were to blow out a candle. There was a small flame on the candle giving a small light -- even that is gone, and you are surrounded with absolute darkness, abysmal darkness. People used to come to ask him, "If you go on teaching such things, nobody is going to follow you. Who wants darkness, enormous darkness? You are crazy. You say that the ultimate experience is ultimate death. People want eternal life, and you are talking about ultimate death." But he was a very consistent man, and you can see that for forty-two years he hammered on the genius…